Kathy Robertson, shown with her husband, Chuck, at their Lafayette home, formed the Abigail Robertson Foundation for the Prevention of Domestic Violence after her daughter, Abigail, was killed by a former boyfriend in 2007.

LAFAYETTE — The portrait of Abigail Robertson on the website abbysvoice.com does not speak of tragedy.

But the dates below the picture, Dec. 10, 1986-Dec. 11, 2007, hint at a disturbing tale.

Abigail was murdered the day after she turned 21 after attempting to untangle from an abusive relationship with Marcus Hightower, 26, the man later convicted of killing her.

Abby’s Voice is the website of the Abigail Robertson Foundation for the Prevention of Domestic Violence.

The foundation, created by Abigail’s mother, Kathy Robertson, 53, is an attempt to come to grips with the death of her middle child and to persuade parents and young people to act when someone they care about is snared in an abusive relationship.

“What we feel we should have done was become more aggressive,” she said of herself and husband, Chuck, 56. “We knew stuff was going on, but we didn’t know how serious it was.”

Robertson started Abby’s Voice in 2008 to educate the public about the dangers that dating-age women and teens might face. Eventually, she said, she hopes to see education about date violence become part of curriculum in every school in Colorado.

Women of all ages are at risk for domestic and sexual violence. Young women ages 16 to 24 experience the highest rates of violence committed by an intimate partner, according to the nonprofit Dating Violence Resource Center.

One in five high school girls is physically or sexually harmed by someone they are dating, and one in three teens experiences abuse in a romantic relationship, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Much of the money she raises goes to nonprofits that specialize in domestic violence.

With her husband, she helped create the Phoenix Center, a counseling office on the Auraria campus for victims of relationship violence.

She speaks at schools, where she tells Abigail’s story. “What I want them to see is that this can happen to you,” she said.

Hightower barged into Abigail’s unlocked apartment in Glendale on Dec. 11, 2007, armed with a pistol and a knife. He stabbed her 60 times and shot her twice in the head and once in the arm.

On Nov. 17, Hightower was convicted of Abigail’s murder and sentenced to life without parole.

Their relationship began as a benign affair between two students at the Metropolitan State College of Denver. Hightower, a resident assistant in the dorm where she lived, was charming and attentive. He bought her jewelry, an expensive pair of sneakers and other gifts.

As time went on, he became controlling and possessive.

“When they got together, we didn’t see much of Abby,” said James Glade, 24, a friend who met her when both were children.

Abigail tired of being smothered by Hightower and broke off the relationship the summer before she died.

Not long after the split, he arrived at her door and demanded she return the sneakers. They argued, and he punched her in the stomach and pushed her into a wall. Then he slashed her tires and vandalized her car.

Abigail went to the police, and a judge issued a restraining order against Hightower.

In the fall, she told her parents that he had slashed her tires again. They tried to persuade her to go to the police. “She said: ‘No mom. I don’t want to do that because I don’t want him to get in trouble. I don’t want him to go to jail.’ “

Kathy Robertson wishes she had been more forceful in trying to persuade her daughter to move back into the family home in Lafayette.

Working to end the violence has been therapeutic, she said.

“It has eased some of the pain,” she said. “There is this energy you have after something like this. I had to figure out how I would live the rest of my life without her.”

A general assignment reporter for The Denver Post, Tom McGhee has covered business, police, courts, higher education and breaking news. He came to The Post from Albuquerque, N.M., where he worked for a year and a half covering utilities. He began his journalism career in New York City, worked for a pair of community weeklies that covered the west side of Manhattan from 14th Street to 125th Street.

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